Chester Thompson... what a great solo... and he does something all the other keyboard players with ToP never did. He plays the foot pedals... and kicks ass with bass riffs... while killing the keyboards. A true B3 player.
Chester Thompson’s Masterpiece! Baddest Studio band JAM Ever!!! And ‘Live’ on this I love seeing Lenny Pickett DANCE at the end of Chester’s solo! HAAAAH! Nothing like it!!!
Tower of Power is simply the best at their craft. Bar none. Lenny Pickett is a BEAST on the tenor. Can't believe wine glasses didn't shatter during his solos. Bruce Conte and Chester tore it up too. Tower simply owned Oakland at the Fox Theater. Can't wait for the DVD.
The GREASTEST American Funk-Soul band of all time by far...yes, even beyond James Brown's band, which some will say is blasphemy, but IMO the songwriting of TOP is beyond browns simplistic grooves.
@@davidgoldmanagency YOU went to too far when you say better than JAMES BROWN BANDS! HELL NO!!!! MACEO, FRED, BOOTSY, CATFISH, JIMMY NOLAN, JOHN STARKS, CLYDE THE FUNKY DRUMMER, JOE DUPARS, WAYMON THE TRUMPET PLAYER, SINCLAIR PICKNEY, ALPHONSO KELLUM, NO WAY.Ask TOP AND THEY WILL TELL YOU! JBS
America's All-Time Greatest Band Hands Down!! The musicianship, the originality of their music taking us ALL to places funk-groove-ballads have never taken audiences before. RESPECT!!! Bow To The Gods of Funk-Soul Music!! Happy 50th TOP, keep it going!!!!1111111
Tightest horn band there ever was. Squib Cakes is a fav of mine. Been a TOP fan since they began. Lived in the Bay Area for a lot of years and East Bay funk/soul is the best. A lot of musicians came out of the area during that time, or thereabouts. Journey, Pablo Cruise, Doobie Brothers, Sly Stone, Santana and more, but TOP is absolutely tops! They need to be in the R&R Hall of Fame. So glad they're still touring. It's obvious they love what they do. Keep it going guys!
For Sure! They DECIDEDLY need to be in The ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME! Ain’t Nobody like them; at their HEIGHT & Even Now! Always KILLIN’!!! P.S. Glad Bruce Conte & Rocco got to be there! R.I.P. you irreplaceable ICONIC players you!!!👍🏽💔😢
At 7:40 Chester mashed that high C and went back to the C bassline, Bruce knew where to follow and the horns dropped those 16ths eight bars later. Same as it ever was. *THAT* is a tight group.
Man, I've never heard a tenor player get as high as Lenny Pickett. Sure Marc Russo and Brandon Fields are great and get up there, but they're mainly alto players(Brandon does play more tenor now). Another person I'd like to add is saxophonist James Carter. He's another tenor player that can get way up there. But with Lenny, notes go into the stratosphere!
@kjwilkguitar Lenny could pop the reed. Self taught. In the old days he did that funky dance move. Cool shit. I hear a definite Jr. Walker influence with Lenny Pickett.
air tight....nothing better.!! CT layin' it down...burnin' up those 1/2 waterfall keys with his right hand and that LEFT LEG bringing the Leslie Bass to full throat. This is a Church Experience.! Partin' my hair the wrong way with all that air moving.!!!!
Well,having heard this 1974 Instrumental many times and Band line-ups,this definitely has got to be one of the best renditions ever, in my longtime fan days..
Guys, saw you in Grand Rapids in January. Out f**king outstanding. Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you Froze my ass off. Worth every minute of it! Been a fan since 1970. first time in Virginia Beach Va, a loong time ago. Have most of the CD's. Saw you again in AC, a long time ago. TOP Love for ever!!!
Emilio said it had been 15 years. When they started and I saw Chester was going to do the whole night I was really hoping for Squibcakes and they stepped up! Notice, during his solo Mark VW is NOT playing the bass. :-)
I heard them play it live in hamburg GERMANY, this April. I Love this Song so much - they Need to do More instrumental tracks, they have so many great ones in their repertoire
@@dgano Yeah, the alums would still play together from time to time, but Lenny Pickett left in 1981, and Chester left to join Santana in 1983. They've been gone for a while.
They were both there. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HF4uGoXG8mU.html Rocco only came out and played about three songs. He didn't look well, even then. But it was great to see him taking part at least a little bit.
Really cool to see Lenny can still do his dance after all these years, first saw him do it at the Denver coliseum they were promoting the first album with Lenny Williams on vocals. I was 13 yrs old been hooked ever since!!
i saw them live 1982 in philly at the chestnut street club on 38th and chestnut. in west philly near the university of penn campus. i worked 11pm to 7am and i went to work late to see their show. i got to work at 1.30 am and went to sleep drunk. nite shift was like that in those days. still great show by T O P
Arthur Zavala Couldn’t agree more. I don’t know of a better rhythm & lead player all wrapped up in one. Around our house, we call ‘Self Titled’ through ‘Havin’ Fun’ Tower “The ‘27 Yankees”
My wife and friends with me attended your 50th show at the Scottish Rite on 10/19.All I can say is WOW! And I am still Diggin in James Brown! Fantastic Show .
what's more impressive, to find a place in the ensemble for a 10th sound as huge as CTs - or that he opened a whole new window for the group as an ahem fusion band - about the funkiest this side of the Headhunters? right here they are at their best and there's no Marcus, no LW, no Michael Jeffries, no Rufus Miller out there in front. IMO great moments with Jeffries singing on CT-composed vocal tunes found on Dinosaur Tracks, We Came To Play, Back On The Streets, & Direct LPs - and on that last one the audiophile Sheffield Labs number, dig the Leslie recording they got on alternate take of Squib. very first sign of this to me was the track Mahdi The Expected One from Voco (Abe Kesh) Lights Out San Francisco compilation LP (although it took off Valdez in the Country maybe?)
So everyone says that Franco and Mr. G are the backbone of the group and I agree!! But I am a sax player without Lenny they are missing something when it comes to boogie!! He's the cherry on top!!!
Lenny Pickett, left TOP in 1981. However, in NYC, I would go see TOP a lot at the club "The Bottom Line." Lenny, would often join the band on stage. He had his own group, The Borneo Horns. He was also working as a sideman on SNL, before he became the leader. He might still do that today, when TOP are playing somewhere in Manhattan. I wouldn't know, I live in LA these days.
I would love to see these guys in a concert with a line up with The late Miles Davis. John Coltrane. Chick Corea . Then Steely Dan. And some other fat jazz greats. Gotta love the sweet sound of Jazz.
Can anyone identify or name the original band members.....obviously see Emilio up front. Is David still back on drums? Doc....someone is saying Lenny also? Others?
David Winn See the liner notes to “East Bay Grease” for their original line-up. Their classic line-up: Lenny Williams, Lenny Pickett, Emilio Castillo, Doc Kupka, Mic Gillette, Greg Adams, Chester Thompson, Bruce Conte, Rocco Prestia & David Garibaldi. I would substitute Hubert Tubbs for Lenny Williams and David Bartlett for David Garibaldi but hey, that’s just me. I realize I am in the minority there.
@@jamesmiller8183 I saw a video of them from many years ago which had a front-man or vocalist, African American, who was just fantastic....the tune he belted out was What Is Hip?, and that ensemble in the video featured a really hot guitar player who just nailed the fast strum rhythm arrangement. They changed guitar players over time and also didn't they lose the vocalist too? But, yes, the names in your classic lineup, most of them jump out at me. Garibaldi got injured or ill and was out for a time as I recall. Many of the originals have retired or moved on in one way or anther. Wasn't Richard Elliott in there on sax? Greg Adams left, Rocco retired. Thanks for the resuscitating my memory.
Emilio, Doc, and David are the only originals in this video. Richard Elliot played from '86 to '89. Euge Groove played from '89 to '92. Rocco Retired in 2018 and he was only playing part time up to then. David Garibaldi has been back since 1998.
@@andrescen7577 I need to view Wikipedia to see who their guitar players were. They've had several, each one brought something a little different to the role/sound of the guitar instrumentation. Appreciated your clarification to David Winn. I love that performance where Richard Elliot was wailing on Boys from the Bay....he must have been making a special appearance after he had left.. A truly incredible band....with great players.
He actually retired from Tower of Power, not drumming. He still intends to keep drumming, but he just couldn't keep up with the tour schedule any more. Yeah, bummer, but remember he's had hip replacement and got hit by a train and in a recent interview I heard him say he hadn't unpacked his suitcase in 28 years.
Me llama la atención como apura en el tempo Garibaldi. Supongo estamos de acuerdo que es el conductor de la nave, pero haciendo revisionismo, en muchos vídeos noto lo mismo.
I would love to see and hear ? The Buddy Rich big band belt this tune with either Dave Weckle, Steve Gadd or Simon Phillips on drums and the band banging this tune out. That i feel ? Would make these guy's proud that a legendary big band belted this tune out.
Saw my first TOP show in a bar in San Diego in 1970. A fan ever since. See them every year if they're in the area. Traveled 2000 miles to attend their 50th anniversary show . Depeche Mode is in the R&R Hall of Fame and TOP isn't???? WTF!!! R&R, you need to funkifize or you can kiss my a--
TOP isn't really R&R. If there was a SOUL / R&B / JAZZ-FUNK Hall of Fame, they would certainly reign supreme there. I heard them for the first time in '72 outside Funky Quarters in San Diego. It was a 21 and up club and I was 18, so I couldn't get in. I just sat outside the front door and grooved like a MF. I heard Soul Vaccination for the first time and stayed for the second show so I could hear it again. I don't know if Lenny Pickett was part of the band in '72-it was probably still Skip Mesquite but I dragged my ass into work the next morning and lo and behold, KPRI FM was broadcasting the recorded 2nd show in its entirety. I headed down to WHEREHOUSE RECORS the week that 3rd TOP album released in May of '73. Funkiest horn arrangements I've ever heard. Even moer than James Brown's Famous Flames.
WOW!!!!!! AFTER 50 YEARS OF BUMPIN OUT THAT RAW FUNK & RB.....NOBOBY DOES IT BETTER THAN T.O.P LOVE LENNY PICKETT ON THAT TENOR. NOW MUSICAL DIRECTOR FOR SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
When is this Blu-ray coming out!? Man! Lenny's technique has always astounded me. Altissimo for years! And his dancing too! Good seeing Bruce Conte out there and playing so well. He either has battled or is battling leukemia. And Chester - what more can be said? This guy! He does more with his feet than most B3 players can do with their hands! Masters as their craft.
Bruce's bro Victor was in the band way back in the day. He's the founder and mastermind behind Balco, the lab that was in the middle of the steroids scandal involving many in major league baseball, and other sports.
Ray Greene who was the lead singer for a few years before Carlos Santana stole him. Incredible talent. It's just amazing how Mimi and Doc get young players that mesh with the older guys.